Jerry Seinfeld and “Diversity & Comics” are having undue creative influence on me and my work, and I think I like it.
Seinfeld is a hugely popular and successful comedian, quasi-actor and host of the mostly great Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee. In a discussion with comedian Steve Harvey, the two arrived at a maxim that I have taken to heart: if you are writing something because it is important, it will fail!
I have only recently started writing in ernest again. My writing more or less stopped when my first child was born. It was such a shift in life that nothing returned to normal for at least three months. One of the things that return to normal afterwards, was that I was no longer pursuing writing or drawing. I have given up on drawing. Writing is still something I’m passionate about and something I will continue to work on. Seinfeld and Harvey reminded me that along with the sense that what I am writing is vitally important, can come a joyless aire of self-righteousness and pretension. I want my writing to be compelling! I have to avoid that tone, otherwise no one will be interested in what I have to say.
I believe all artists have a heavier degree of narcissism than the rest of society. I am not afraid to admit that I want people to read my words and to be entertained by my stories. I want to remind myself that the work should be entertaining. I don’t want to write something that I don’t find entertaining, which is why I performed so poorly in school. I didn’t want to be there so I didn’t put in the effort. To sum up: thanks to Mr. Harvey and Mr. Seinfeld I believe I will be a successful author someday, if I can drop the pretentious attitude.
I’ll be discussing Diversity & Comics in the next post.
MJ Muñoz 